Margo Jefferson

You were not supposed to show off in Negroland because you are supposed to be perfectly decorous and well behaved. You were also not supposed to tell any stories that reflected badly on the group because that reflected badly on the race. I use past tense, but it still feels like present tense.

I don't think of people as black or white. It's a question of are they photogenic or not? I don't think anyone says, 'Let's book her. She's black.' I think they say, 'Let's book her. She's good.' We've come that far.

There are people who have energy that say 'don't come near me, don't get too close.' There's people like Adrienne Shelley who have the energy of 'come over here and give me a hug and if you're around me you're going to be happy about it.'